Untitled California Attorney General Opinion

California Attorney General Reports·Decided July 8, 1986·No. 86-205·Published

Opinion

TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

State of California

JOHN K. VAN DE KAMP

Attorney General

_________________________

:

OPINION : No. 86-205

:

of : JULY 8, 1986 :

JOHN K. VAN DE KAMP :

Attorney General :

:

RONALD M. WEISKOPF :

Deputy Attorney General :

:

________________________________________________________________________

THE HONORABLE DENNIS A. BARLOW, COUNTY COUNSEL, COUNTY OF YUBA, has requested an opinion on the following questions:

1. Does state law (Gov. Code, § 66780.5) require the approval of the City of Wheatland to amend the Yuba-Sutter Bi-County Solid Waste Management Plan?

2. Does the Joint Powers Agreement entered into between Sutter County, Yuba County, Marysville, Live Oak, Yuba City and Wheatland to administer the Yuba- Sutter Bi-County Solid Waste Management Plan require the concurrence of the City of Wheatland to amend it?

3. In the event that such approval is needed for either reason, is the requirement constitutional?

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CONCLUSIONS

1. State law does require the approval of the City of Wheatland to amend the Yuba-Sutter Bi-County Solid Waste Management Plan.

2. The Joint Powers Agreement entered into between Sutter County, Yuba County, Marysville, Live Oak, Yuba City and Wheatland does require the approval of the City of Wheatland to amend the Yuba-Sutter Bi-County Solid Waste Management Plan.

3. Said requirement is not unconstitutional.

ANALYSIS

Under the Nejedly-Z'berg-Dills Solid Waste Management and Resource Recovery Act of 1972 (Stats. 1972, ch. 342, p. 642, § 1; Gov. Code, tit. 7.3, chs. 1 & 2, §§ 66700-66794.5), the state's counties were required, in cooperation with affected local jurisdictions, to prepare "a comprehensive, coordinated solid waste management plan... for all waste disposal within the county and all waste originating therein ... to be disposed of outside of the county." (§ 66780.1.)1 Said plans were to comply with the state solid waste plan management policy adopted by the State Solid Waste Management Board (§ 66780.7; cf. §§ 66711, 66722, 66770 and 66771) and with the hazardous waste standards set by the State Department of Health Services (§ 66780.7; cf. § 66713; Health & Saf.Code, § 25150), and they were to be submitted to those state agencies for review and approval (§ 66780.7). Said plans were also to be consistent with any applicable county or city general plan. (§ 66780.2; cf. § 66780, subd. (b); Christward Ministry v. Superior Court (1986) 180 Cal.App.3d 99, 111.) Thereafter no sites for solid waste disposal could be established or operated in a county except in conformity with its approved solid waste management plan. (§ 66784.) Amendments to plans could be effected, as would be necessary to establish an otherwise nonconforming site (§ 66784), when approved by a "majority of the cities within the county which contain a majority of the population of the [county's] incorporated area ..." (§ 66780.5, subd. (c)).

In 1973 the cities of Marysville and Yuba City, and Sutter and Yuba counties determined that an areawide approach to solid waste management would be preferable to the two individual counties planning separate systems: the two counties had similar economic, social and physical conditions, shared a high degree of interdependence, and had some common regulatory agencies (e.g., the Sutter-Yuba Health Department). In addition, the majority of wastes generated in Sutter County was 1 Unidentified section references are to the Government Code.

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disposed of in Yuba County. (Citizen's/Technical Committee, Bi-County Solid Waste Plan and Program, Final Draft (June 1976) at p. 1.) Those four jurisdictions were joined by the cities of Wheatland and Live Oak in requesting technical assistance from the Sacramento Regional Area Planning Commission to draft a plan with a two-county approach. (Ibid.)2 A comprehensive bi-county plan, drafted with the participation of the affected jurisdictions as well as the state Solid Waste Management Board (id. at pp. 2-4), recommended inter alia that a centralized Joint Powers Agency be created to assume the responsibilities vested in the local jurisdictions and have administrative control over the entire two-county area solid waste system. (Id. at p. 174.) Pursuant thereto, a Joint Powers Agreement was entered into under the Joint Exercise of Powers Act (Gov. Code, tit. 1, div. 5, ch. 5, § 6500 et seq.) between the six affected jurisdictions -- to wit, the counties of Yuba and Sutter, and their incorporated areas, the cities of Wheatland, Marysville, Yuba City and Live Oak. The Agreement created and established a Bi- County Solid Waste Authority to administer the Bi-County Solid Waste Plan "and any additional recommendations which may be amended to the original plan after unanimous adoption by the member jurisdictions." (Agreement, § 9; cf. 2.) The Authority is governed by a six-member board consisting of one supervisor appointed by each of the two member counties' Board of Supervisors and one councilperson appointed by each of the four member cities' City Council. (Id., 2.) A quorum of four representatives from the member jurisdictions is necessary "for the purpose of voting on any matter" (5) and "four affirmative votes are required for adoption or passage of any measure." (Id., 6). We understand the bi-county Authority is the only one of its kind in the state.

The State Reclamation Board has required construction of a new sanitary landfill in the Yuba-Sutter area to replace an existing site in the City of Marysville. The Bi-County Authority authorized a site selection survey to examine alternative sites and it eventually chose a site on Ostrom Road in Yuba County five miles from the City of Wheatland. The existing Plan must be amended to accommodate the site. It has been approved by five of the six member jurisdictions which comprise the Authority, but the City of Wheatland has rejected the proposal. We are asked whether Wheatland's concurrence is necessary to amend the existing Plan to establish the site under state law (§ 66780.5, subd. (c)) or under the parties' Joint Powers Agreement and, if so, whether such requirement is constitutional. We conclude that the City of Wheatland's

2 A county could -- "with the agreement of a majority of the cities within the county [containing] a majority of the population of [its] incorporated area ...transfer the responsibility for the preparation of [its] solid waste management plan to the regional planning agency for the region recognized by the Council on Intergovernmental Relations." (Former § 66780 [Stats. 1972, ch. 342, supra, renumbered § 66780.1 and amended by Stats. 1982, ch. 1468, § 2; Stats. 1982, §§ 1488, 2.5; see also § 66717(4).)

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concurrence is necessary under both state law and the Joint Powers Agreement establishing the bi-county Authority and that said requirement is constitutional.

1. Does State Law (Gov. Code, § 66780.5, subd. (c)), Require Wheatland's Concurrence to Amend the Bi-County Waste Management Plan?

Section 66780.5 contemplates triennial review and revision of a county's solid waste management plan. Subdivision (c) provides that

"... any amendment to the plan shall be approved by a majority of the cities within the county which contain a majority of the population of the incorporated area of the county." (§ 66780.5, subd. (c).)3A similarly formulated requirement is also necessary for a county to approve an initial solid waste management plan or for it to transfer its responsibility to adopt one to the regional planning agency for the region.

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